Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has named Jim Barbee, an agriculture consultant with the Department of Education, as the state's acting ag director.
Barbee replaces Tony Lesperance who quit after Sandoval said he wouldn't reappoint him, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

Kym Maehl from the Brewery Arts Center talks about a new class to help spur your creativity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5vO7tCr200

A 41-year-old Carson City man was arrested Wednesday afternoon at Mark Twain Elementary School after allegedly having a disagreement with his son's teacher and saying "this is going to be another Columbine."

According to the arrest report, the teacher told deputies that the boy's recess privileges were suspended for the week after he was caught picking on a Hispanic student, taking that student's coat and using it like a bullfighter's cape, yelling "Torro, Torro!"

Leroy Raymond Yeoman, 31, and Shane Robert Donovan, 22, were arrested Wednesday afternoon after an NV Energy employee reported witnessing the men cutting up a passive reflector microwave tower located in the mountains east of Sedge Road.

According to the arrest report, the NV Energy employee was dispatched to the tower location after the company lost the microwave feed from Geiger Grade. When he arrived, he said he observed the subjects cutting up the tower with a power saw and loading the metal in a pickup truck and trailer. The employee said the men admitted tearing it down for scrap.

CARSON CITY – It’s a rare occurrence that a governor calls a federal law “unconstitutional” one minute and advocates implementing that same law a minute later.

But that’s what happened earlier this week when Gov. Brian Sandoval called for Nevada to move forward with creating the Nevada Health Insurance Exchange, one of the mandates under the Obama administration’s 2010 health care bill.

Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell talks on camera with Nevada Appeal's Brian Duggan about how he deals with his elected office and his job as a lobbyist at the Nevada Legislature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGL9FayQhTQ

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Third-graders who cannot read at a third-grade level would not advance to fourth grade under a proposal from Gov. Brian Sandoval.
The assertion rests on common-sense logic, and Sandoval has been promoting his idea since he was on the campaign trail.

Join the Carson River Coalition Education Working Group for the annual Carson River Film Festival. It will be Thursday, Jan. 27, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Ormsby Room at the Carson City Sheriff’s Building, 911 Musser Street in Carson CIty

View and help judge some great films made by local students. The event is free.

Parts of the Carson Now site were down this morning, and we are still diagnosing the problem. For most of the time, the front page was inaccessible, but the rest of the pages were working. If you have trouble accessing the site, you can visit our Facebook page.

Businessman and radio host Herman Cain stopped in Las Vegas last week as part of his preparation for a possible presidential run in 2012. The Republican is the first potential candidate so far to have created an exploratory committee, often the first step for those who hope to win their party’s nomination.
Cain has been traveling the country and testing the waters, generally eschewing large events with significant media coverage in favor of intimate settings with the conservative activists and Tea Party groups that constitute much of the GOP base.

CARSON CITY – State officials said today they are pleased that Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed continuing the Guinn Millennium Scholarship program in his budget, including a one-time infusion of $10 million from the general fund to keep it solvent through 2016.
“I was pleased to see that,” said Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, in a budget hearing today.

CARSON CITY – A proposal in Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget to raise $190 million in revenue by securitizing the state’s insurance premium tax was called “questionable fiscal discipline” today by Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford.
Sandoval Chief of Staff Heidi Gansert said the proposal is a “last resort” to be employed if needed to maintain essential services in health and human services and public education.

Join us this Friday, January 28th for the "Unusual Suspects" in our beautiful new Eleventh Frame Winner's Lounge from 8pm-Midnite. No Cover and Smoke FREE!! http://www.carsonlanes.com/Cocanutz_Lounge.html

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY — Nevada’s primary education system would change dramatically under the proposals Gov. Brian Sandoval delivered tonight in his State of the State address.
He would use student achievement data to evaluate educators, provide merit pay for effective teachers and end extra pay for longevity and advanced degree attainment.

A Carson City man who called authorities saying he was sent a threatening text message from a gang member, was arrested on a felony child abuse warrant.

According the the arrest report, officers were dispatched to the 700 block of Hot Springs Road on Jan. 20 after the man contacted authorities to report threats were being made.

Carson City firefighters knocked down a small fire this afternoon inside the Stewart Title office building in the 1800 block of College Parkway.

Employees evacuated the building after an alarm had gone off shortly after 3 this afternoon. Firefighters arriving on scene reported there was a fire burning and that they had it contained at about 3:15 p.m.

A sprinkler system had been activated, according to firefighters on the scene.

Here is the second part of our interview with Carson City Manger Larry Werner about the Carson City Center/Nugget Project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoQy5DYXEso

One piece of new information in this portion is that Werner said they would delay final approval of the project until they know what happens with the state's budget, and if that will impact the city's finances.

Dr. Robert E. Herst, author and historian, opens his saga with a story about childhood memories of post-war Nevada and California in the book "Destiny's Children: A Saga of Early California with Parallels to Nevada History." Herst shares his mesmerizing tale in a lecture and book signing for Destiny's Children at the Nevada State Museum at 7 pm. Regular admission fees apply. Doors open at 6:00 pm for exhibit viewing in the main building. For more information call (775) 687-4810 x237.

Here is a video ahead of Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval's State of the State address on Monday, 6 p.m. at the Assembly Chamber of the Legislative Building in Carson City.

The video is from Bob Fulkerson, executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada speaking on behalf of the Nevada Values Coalition, a new group of activists and organizations formed to propose innovative strategies to create balanced solutions to the state's budget crisis. The Coalition represents or provides services for more than 600,000 Nevadans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Kq3t6zYGI&feature=player_embedded

Here is the Coalition's view on the State of the State.

Social Media: Why Bother? from Jonathan Denwood on Vimeo.

An single-vehicle accident on Highway 50 this morning in Lyon County provides a good opportunity for the Nevada Highway Patrol to warn motorists to wait for authorities to arrive before leaving the scene.

Troop Dan Lopez reports that NHP is looking for the driver of a yellow Pontiac Aztek who wasn't at the accident site when authorities arrived. The car went down an embankment on Highway 50 east around mile marker 15 about seven miles east of Dayton. The vehicle accident was reported at about 7:15 a.m. Saturday morning.

A Carson City woman faces multiple charges including child neglect and possession of methamphetamine after officers learned drug dealing was being done out of the garage of her Robinson Street home.

Deborah Ellen Duffy, 24, was arrested Thursday in the 1100 block of East Robinson Street after the Special Enforcement Team of the Carson City Sheriff's Office received information that meth dealing was being done in the garage of the home.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
New state legislators got the low-down this past Friday about how to deal with the press. The theme woven throughout the legislative training seminar was one of transparency.

By Andrew Doughman / Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Nevada’s unemployment-insurance benefit fund could be in the red until 2018 as the state continues to borrow from the federal government to keep sending unemployment checks.